The Management Tip of the Day from Harvard Business Review

 

January 27, 2015 Don’t Put Off Addressing the People Issues on Your Team People issues often pose the most difficult challenges in project management. Rather than trying to ignore, deny, or avoid them, you need to address them quickly and decisively before they get too big. Specify the problem, think about possible causes and the impact it’s having on your team, and then take action. For example, if conflicts of personality or working styles are wasting time and lowering productivity on your team, propose solutions, not blame. Focus team members on project goals, not on personal feelings. If team members become too friendly, reorganize subgroups to disrupt cliques and emphasize that social gatherings are for after work. Pay attention to small signs, like a team member’s increased irritability, loss of enthusiasm, or difficulty making decisions. Raise these issues quickly. The only way you’ll squash problems is through frequent, daily communication—not weekly staff meetings. Adapted from “Managing Projects (20-Minute Manager Series).”

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